How to Play Sokoban
- Tap the board or Start New Game to open the game. This first tap never makes a move.
- The blue circle is your pusher. Tap a reachable floor square to walk there without moving boxes.
- Tap an adjacent box to push it one square. You must stand behind it, and its destination must be free.
- You cannot pull a box or push two boxes together. A wall blocks both walking and pushing.
- Red circles mark targets. A delivered box turns green and gains a tick. Deliver every box to win.
- Undo reverses a step, a push, or the whole route from one floor tap. Use it repeatedly to try another plan.
- Swipe on the board, or use arrows/WASD, for a single step. Exit returns to the rules; Back To Game keeps your position.
Try a Two-Push Example
This small teaching diagram is separate from the playable warehouses. The pusher already stands behind the box, and the target is two squares to its right.
Legend: # wall · @ pusher · $ box · . target · * delivered
#######
# @$ .#
#######
After one push: # @$.#
After two pushes: # @*#
The point is where you must stand, not just where the box should go. Check both squares before a push: the space behind the box for you, and the space ahead for the box.
Sokoban Strategy: Avoid Deadlocks
Keep Boxes Out of Non-Target Corners
A box against two perpendicular walls cannot move out: you cannot stand behind it in either direction. If the corner has no target, that push makes the position unsolvable. Undo the push and find another route.
Check Walls and Your Next Standing Square
A box beside a wall cannot be pushed away from that wall, though it may move along it. Check that a target can be reached along the same accessible wall segment. For every planned turn, make sure you can get to the square behind the box.
Leave Routes Open
A delivered box can still block your way. Do not assume the nearest box should go to the nearest target, or that every box on a target should stay there. Plan which corridors you will need for the remaining boxes.
Use Undo to Compare Plans
There is no automatic game-over for a deadlock. Step back through your pushes and try a different order. A tap-to-walk route is one Undo step, so you can return to the point before that route without replaying every walking square.
Warehouses, Difficulty and Restart
This version has 19 prepared warehouses across Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert. The layouts and dimensions vary; these profiles are curated groups rather than a solver-calculated difficulty score.
Start New Game restarts the current warehouse after confirmation if you have begun playing. After a win, Next Warehouse opens the next puzzle in its profile and wraps around at the end. Difficulty selects the first warehouse in the next profile, with confirmation during a started game. There is no daily puzzle, level picker or solution button in this version.
Pushes counts box pushes. Time starts at your first successful move and pauses outside the game. Best stores the fastest win for the whole difficulty profile. Exit keeps the unfinished position while the page is open; reloading starts again.
Sokoban FAQ
How do I play Sokoban?
Push every box onto a target. You can push one box at a time into a free square, but you cannot pull boxes or push two together. A green box with a tick is on a target; it may still need to move again.
Is this Sokoban game free and without ads?
Yes. No ads, no account and no download. Play in your browser on a notebook-style board.
How do mobile controls work?
The first tap on the board only opens the game. Then tap a reachable floor square to walk there along a shortest path, or tap a box next to the pusher to push it. Swipe on the board for one directional step. Arrow keys and WASD also work.
What does Undo reverse?
Undo reverses the last directional step or push. If you tapped a distant floor square, one Undo reverses that whole walking route. You can undo repeatedly while the puzzle is unfinished; the timer is not rewound.
What happens if a box gets stuck?
The game does not automatically end on a deadlock. Use Undo to revisit your pushes, or Start New Game to restart the same warehouse. A box in a non-target corner cannot be moved out.
How do I get a different warehouse?
After solving a warehouse, Next Warehouse opens the next task in that difficulty, cycling through its list. Difficulty switches to the first task of the next profile, with confirmation during a started game. Start New Game restarts the current warehouse after confirmation if you have begun playing.
Does leaving save my progress?
Exit returns to the page, and Back To Game resumes the same position and Undo history while the page remains open. Reading the page and time in a background tab are paused. Reloading starts a fresh puzzle; difficulty and best times are stored when browser storage is available.
What do Pushes and Best mean?
Pushes counts box pushes, not walking steps. Best is your fastest solved time in the current difficulty profile, rather than a separate record for each warehouse. Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert are curated groups, not a rating calculated from your play.